Храм святых двенадцати апостолов (Гертфордшир)

On the 12th June 1991 fourteen members of the local community met with his Eminence Archbishop Gregorios and took the first steps towards the formation of our church.

For the first seven years The Twelve Apostles church has shared Saint Andrews Anglican church in Cuffley, Hertfordshire. Whilst we will always be grateful to the congregation of Saint Andrews for their hospitality, the drawbacks of sharing were obvious, and our dream was always to have a church of our own.

The arrival of Father Joseph Paliouras as our priest gave an added impetus to our progress. He has provided enthusiasm, faith, and guidance, as well as a quality of leadership which has helped to swell the ranks of our congregation. He has worked tirelessly, both with the committee and the congregation, becoming truly the foundation on which our hopes and dreams are founded.

Those dreams were realised in December 1997 when we were able to purchase our church in Brookmans Park-Hertfordshire.

The first service in our new Church was held on the 28th February 1999 and the consecration of The Twelve Apostles Church was held on Sunday 1st October 2000 with the presence of His Eminence Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain Gregorios.

Fr Joseph Paliouras was born in Trikala, Greece in 1961. He began his musical studies at an early age graduating with diplomas from the University of Athens in not only Byzantine but also European music. He later achieved a degree in Theology from the University of Salonica.

In 1986 he moved to London where he now resides. He is the founder and also director of the School of Byzantine Music in London and is the conductor of its choir. Fr. Paliouras was ordained as a Priest, on Christmas Eve 1988 and currently serves as the parish priest of the Holy Church of the Twelve Apostles in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire.

For the last ten years he is presented weekly, the radio programme ‘From the Hymns of the Church’ on London Greek Radio. In addition to this, he also contributes to the weekly broadcasts ‘Window to the Blue’ and ‘The Voice of the Church’. Father Joseph further presents weekly at the Hellenic Television the programme ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’.

He has also released various audio CDs containing religious hymns and songs such as: ‘Hymns of Christmas Day’, ‘The Service of the Bridegroom’, ‘Holy Passion’, ‘Double Celebration’, ‘Christmas and New Year Song’, ‘Ethnic Songs’, and others.

Tel: +44 (0) 1707-650147
Fax: +44 (0) 1707-647846
Mobile: +44 (0) 7802-258175
joseph@12apostles.co.uk

Fr. Demetrianos Melekis was born in London, England in 1969 to his parents Andreas from Komi Kebir and Tsikkina Melekis (maiden name Stavrou) from Sha in Cyprus and was named Christakis. He married his wife, Androulla Evangelou, in 1995 and has two children Andreas and Chrystiana.

He finished Secondary School at The School of St David and St Katherine in Hornsey N8 in 1987 and went on to study for a BTEC National Diploma in Computer Studies at SouthgateTechnical College in Southgate N14 for 2 years.

The original jobs he did were in the Direct Marketing and Marketing industries serving the programming departments of three well-known companies in these fields from 1990 to 2005. As a young child from the age of 9 until 15, he served as an altar boy at the churches of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Wood Green N22) and St John the Baptist (Wightman Road N8).

The late Archimandrite of the Oecumenical Throne Fr Leontios Aristotelous invited him to join the choir of St John the Baptist’s church in 1985 when he was 16 years old under the direction of Holy Cantor Christos Tsangarides and was taught the order of the Orthodox Christian service by the late Michael Philippou. He was first taught to chant using European Music notation and then Mr Tsangarides in 1991 taught him the basics of Byzantine Music. Then he went to the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Gt. Britain’s School of Byzantine Music under the direction of Father Joseph Paliouras, our parish priest, where they first met in 1992. He finished the Byzantine Music School in 1994 with Holy Cantor Ignatios Papanastasiou and Father Joseph teaching him Byzantine Music and Mr Tony Violaris teaching him European Music.

Father Joseph invited Christakis Melekis to help the newly established community of the Twelve Apostles worshipping at St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Cuffley, Hertfordshire as a Cantor in 1993. He continued as a Cantor for our church when we moved to BrookmansPark, Hertfordshire in 1999. Eventually, he was called to serve the community as a sub-Deacon from July to November 2005 and was ordained by His Eminence Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Gt. Britain on 6th November 2005 as a Deacon and was named Demetrianos after the ninth century bishop of Chitron (Kythrea) Cyprus, who is commemorated on that day. Then, Archbishop Gregorios ordained him a priest on 26th December 2006.

Tel: +44 (0) 1707-650147
Fax: +44 (0) 1707-647846
Mobile: +44 (0) 7788637830

The Greek Orthodox Community The Twelve Apostles Hertfordshire
Kentish Lane
Brookmans Park-Hatfield
Hertfordshire
AL9 6NG
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 1707-650147
Fax: +44 (0) 1707-647146
Email: info@12apostles.co.uk

Источник:www.12apostles.co.uk